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Andi turned the screen back to her face. “More likely, how many rockstar offspring have been conceived on the lid, you mean.”
I laughed. “You’re probably right about that. Do you think you’ll ever get used to all this grandeur?”
“Good lord, I hope not. This place is fancier than anyone has a right to. I still can’t believe this is my life. If you had told me ten years ago I would not only be staying at the nicest hotel in Denver on the last stop in a twenty-five city American tour, but that I’d also be staying in the penthouse suite, I’d have said you were high. If I ever start taking this stuff for granted, you have my permission to slap me silly.” The camera bumped suddenly, and Andi’s face disappeared. “Christ, that feels good,” she groaned.
“What feels good?” I frowned. “Wait. Don’t answer that if Cal is doing something X-rated to you while you’re on the phone with me. I donotwant to know.”
Peals of laughter erupted through the speaker. “No, no. He’s not even here. It’s thisbed.” Andi’s face came back into view, her head now resting on a luxurious-looking pillow. “I can’t believe how comfortable it is. If I fall asleep during this conversation and start snoring, you’ll know why. I need to check the label on this mattress. We are so getting one of these.”
“Where is Cal, anyway?”
“Oh, he’s downstairs, going over some security stuff with the hotel,” she sighed. “He’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Don’t you have a team for that?”
“Yeah, but we’ve been having some problems with them. Rudy had to fire the lead security guy earlier in the tour because she caught him smoking weed with some fans when he was supposed to be on duty.” Rudy —actual name Kerri Rudolph— was the band’s manager. “Someone almost stole one of our guitars when that dude was supposed to be guarding them. Can you believe that?”
“Wow. That’s nuts.”
“Yeah. It’s too bad. I liked the guy. But I guess he got really nasty when Rudy fired her. Verbally threatened her and the band and everything.” Andi sighed again. “So, Cal has kind of stepped into the breach, since the tour’s almost over and it’s too late to hire someone else.”
As Hard Candy suddenly became one of the hottest musical tickets in the country, the band had been faced with the reality of screaming fans and the occasional stalker practically overnight. Even before this tour, they encountered mobs of excited followers whenever they were in any major city for a performance or a TV appearance. According to Andi, the band had gone through a series of problematic relationships with a few different security firms. They were still trying to find the right fit, not very successfully.
“At least the tour’s almost over,” Andi continued. “I can go back to Lupine and breathe for a while.” The band had resisted all the urging of her agent and record industry types to move to California. The other members of Hard Candy lived in Denver, but Andi had preferred to stay in our town, which was small and out of the way enough that she could live a mostly normal life away from the fame when she was here.
“Oh, by the way,” I cut in. “Just to warn you, Chloe is super,superexcited about Christmas. It’s all she talks about lately. Abigail started talking to her about Santa Claus, and then my kids joined in on it to get them both pumped up. Every day Chloe has been asking me how many days there were until Christmas. We finally made a calendar to put on the fridge. We’ve been crossing off the days. This morning, she came barreling down the stairs screaming,Two more days!”
“So, what you’re saying is, our children are more excited about Santa coming than they are about seeing their parents again,” Andi said wryly.
“Well, I’m sure they’re excited about both,” I said diplomatically.
Andi laughed. “I mean, at their age I would have sold my mom down the river for Santa Claus. I know how I rate.” She winked at me. “Speaking of which, Santa Claus will be making an appearance at the party tomorrow.”
“Oh my God,” I exclaimed. “The kids are going to love that!”
‘Well, for sure Abigail and Chloe will. And Gracie and Mia, too. Oh, and Lincoln!” Andi agreed.
Levi and Cherish’s kids — Gracie, ten, and Mia, six — definitely still believed in Santa, as did Trig and Eva’s youngest kid, Lincoln, also six.
“It’s too bad Wyatt and Kendall don’t believe in Santa anymore,” Andi remarked. “Did you have any trouble making sure they didn’t spill the beans to Abigail and Chloe?”
“Not at all. The twins are fully embracing being part of the ‘older’ group of Stone Kings children, along with Zoe.” Zoe, Trig and Eva’s daughter, had just turned sixteen. To look at her, though, you’d think she was older than that. She was a stunner, a real beauty — much to her parents’ consternation. Boys flocked around her like moths to a flame. Eva worried about Zoe getting a big head about it. Trig, on the other hand, was focused more on the boys who wanted to date her — and what he worried were their less-than-honorable intentions.
“I just talked to Eva yesterday, actually,” Andi said. “Apparently Zoe is having a teen moment about the party. Eva wants Zoe to be the babysitter and keep an eye on the kids during it, but Zoe is having none of it. She wanted to bring a bunch of her friends along, to show off her connection to the band. Eva said no, that this is just a party for family. I guess Zoe has been pouting and giving her the silent treatment for the last few days.”
“I can’t say I blame Zoe, honestly,” I admitted. “Gosh, can you imagine how cool it would have been for us to know some hugely famous rock stars at that age?”
“Hugely famous rock stars,” Andi repeated. “God, that’s still so weird.”
“Yep. Your band’s name is practically a household word. Your picture is plastered on album covers, tabloids, and social media all over the country. Of course Zoe wants to show that off — and show off that she is cool by association.”
“It is surreal. It’s great in so many ways, but…” Andi trailed off, then seemed to mentally shake herself. “Well, anyway. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
I didn’t ask her to elaborate. I was pretty sure I know what my best friend was thinking. Success was great in some ways, but fame had a lot of downsides. A lot more than she had expected, in fact.
Andi hated that, outside of Lupine, she couldn’t really go out in public these days without being noticed. Paparazzi hounded her whenever she was in LA or New York. And boy, had she learned some hard lessons about social media. Even though lots of fans followed her on her various accounts, there was a fair share of trolls and haters, too. And they could be vicious. Andi had eventually hired someone else to do the posting for her. These days she rarely looked at her accounts. And she never, ever looked at the comments. Instead, she had her security team check them for threats, and trusted that they would tell her anything she needed to know if there was ever a question of her own safety.
Just then, I heard a distant beep through the phone. Andi looked off-camera and smiled. “Seton, Cal just walked in. I’m gonna get going, okay?”
